Respectful Maternity Care
Search and read at least one article on Respectful Maternity Care and share readings by replying in this discussion forum.
Respectful maternal care (RMC) is defined as 'care organized for and provided to all women that upholds their privacy, dignity, and confidentiality as well as freedom from harm and abuses.' It ensures continuous support and informed choices for the mother during labor and childbirth. However, several women across the globe still experience disrespectful and undignified care. Numerous studies have classified these mistreatments of women as a. physical abuses such as slapping, beating, and pinching; b. undignified care through yelling, berating, and humiliating remarks; c. abandonment by leaving alone at various stages of delivery and; discrimination based on age, socioeconomic status, and cultural group (Pathak & Ghimire, 2020).
According to Afulani and Moyer (2019), there is a gap in addressing the lack of respectful maternal care in various health facilities. Past and current studies typically document the "ubiquitous nature of disrespectful care, its adverse effects on care-seeking behaviors, and calls to action on quality of maternal health care" and not the drivers of mistreatment and interventions preventing it. There seems to be no regard for accountability even though the government, health facilities, and medical professionals have acknowledged the prevalence of this matter and intervened to reduce it. They believe that to improve respectful maternal care in different health settings; we must begin using validated tools developed to drive efforts to increase accountability and track change. We must move beyond the documentation and assessment of the prevalence of mistreatment to focus on improving responsibility and tracking change.
Reference:
Pathak, P. & Ghimire, B. (2020). Perception of women regarding Respectful Maternity Care during Facility-Based Childbirth). Obstetrics and gynecology international, 2020, 5142398. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5142398
Afulani, P. & Moyer C. (2019). Accountability for respectful maternity care. The Lancet, (394)10210, 1692-1603. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673619322585